Leaders of the Legislature’s Democratic majority unveiled a budget proposal a fortnight ago. However, that budget has yet to even be debated, much less voted upon, on the floor of either the state Assembly or Senate.

Some insist the problem is that not only tax increases, but also the state budget must be approved by two-thirds of lawmakers in both chambers of the Legislature – a threshold required only by California. They suggest the solution is to rewrite state law to require a simple majority to pass both tax hikes and the budget.

But the California electorate will not hear of it. That’s why the super-majority requirement remains in place.

Well here’s a budget-reform proposal that California voters almost certainly can support: A ballot measure calling for lawmakers to pass a budget by the constitutional deadline or lose pay for every day the state budget is overdue.

There are some rich lawmakers in Sacramento who really don’t need their state salary to make ends meet, who would be no more or less motivated to get a budget passed by the constitutional deadline.

But most members of the state Legislature are not wealthy. And the prospect of losing a month or two (or more) or their state salary almost certainly would encourage them to pass a budget sooner rather than later.